Box Score WINTER PARK – Seniors Mariah Harris and Shaquita Snow combined for 34 points as Florida Southern posted a 72-66 road win at Rollins in Sunshine State Conference action here Wednesday at the Warden Arena.
The win allows the Moccasins, ranked 25th in the D2SIDA Medial Poll, to keep pace with Florida Tech which defeated Barry, 52-48, with both clubs improving to 6-2. League-leading Nova Southeastern lost 71-45 at Tampa, dropping the Sharks to 7-1 in the SSC.
The victory, FSC's seventh in the last eight games, improves the Moccasins to 15-2 on the year with the 15 victories the most for the program since the 2011-12 team finished 24-7. It was also the Moccasins first win at Rollins since Feb. 2, 2005.
Harris, who was 7-of-12 from the floor, led all players with 18 points while Snow, who was 6-of-11 from the field, added 16 points. Harris, the defending SSC Defensive Player of the Week, also grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds, just over 1/3 of the 38 total rebounds by the Moccasins.
Neither team could gain control in the first period as the lead changed hand six times with the Tars (8-8 overall and 4-4 in the SSC) taking a 16-14 lead at the end of the period.
Rollins opened the second period with a layup from Marie Gilbert to extend the lead to 18-14. Snow followed with a layup while Harris popped in a two pointer to tie the score at 18-18 and spark a 17-2 run by the Moccasins as Florida Southern jumped ahead 31-20 with 3:57 left in the half.
The Tars came back with a three-pointer from Jen Farrell and a jumper from Kasey Drayton to cut the Mocs' lead to 31-25, but a tip-in from Harris made the scored 33-25 at intermission.
Rollins would pull within five, 42-37, halfway through the third period and trailed 50-45 a minute into the final period. Camille Giardina wrapped a pair of three-pointers around a free throw from Anja Fuchs-Robetin as Florida Southern pulled ahead 47-45.
Another Harris basket followed by two free throws by Giardina gave the Mocs their biggest lead of the night, 61-47, with just under six minutes remaining. Rollins would eventually claw back to trail 67-63 with 52 seconds left, but a Jensen Blassage jumper and another free throw by Fuchs-Robetin, followed by a pair of charity shots from Sydni Payne kept the Tars at bay. For the game, the Moccasins led for nearly 30 of the game's 40 minutes.
In addition to Harris and Snow, Giardina and Payne each added 10 points as the Moccasins improved to 22-3 over the last two seasons when scoring 70 points in a contest.
Florida Southern, which entered the game ranked 17th in the NCAA Division II with a 76.4 free throw percentage, made just 68 percent of its shots from the charity stripe, connecting on 17-of-25 attempts. The Mocs also shot below their 45.2 season field goal percentage, making just 40.3 percent against the Tars, including a 21 percent effort in the opening period. However, Florida Southern closed the game with a 57 percent mark in the fourth period.
The Moccasin defense limited Rollins to just 31.3 percent shooting and forced 17 turnovers which they turned into 21 points. The Florida Southern bench come up strong once again, scoring 31 points compared to just 16 from the Rollins subs. Blassage dished out a game-high six assists for the Mocs while Fuchs-Robetin and Payne each recorded four assists.
Tanaya Jones led Rollins with 16 points and nine rebounds as the Tars won the battle of the boards, 51-38. Marie Gilbert and Jasmine Stone added 12 and 11 points, respectively for Rollins, while Julia Ingler also scored in double figures with 10 points.
Florida Southern returns home on Saturday for a 5:30 pm match-up with Lynn University at Jenkins Field House.
